Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Luetze
This weekend the quote "These are the times that try men's souls" crossed my mind. Certainly these have been quite trying times for our lives and our nation, so I decided to investigate further into its origin.
I knew that Thomas Paine, pamphleteer and author of Common Sense, was the man who penned it, but I recalled little else.
When I found the quote I read the rest of this essay and found it quite illuminating with many passages quite relevant for our own trying times. It is the opening essay of a compilation of essays under the title The American Crisis.
I also discovered that in order to fortify the resolve of his troops, George Washington ordered that this essay be read aloud to his men the night before they crossed the Delaware in their December 26 surprise attack on Trenton.
Portrait of Thomas Paine by Matthew Pratt
“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated”
The American Revolution had one pre-eminent ideal: Freedom.
In the first section Paine writes:
In the first section Paine writes:
'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country.
Does this sound like today? The next sentence amplifies that with the reminder that "All nations and ages have been subject to them."
Next, he points out that panics have value and can be useful. Why?
Their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered.
* * * *
So it is that we are in a time of crisis, times that try men's souls. There are forces at war which have lain dormant and below the surface. What is emerging has been coalescing for a long time. The American Revolution did not "just happen." It had been evolving for quite some time.
I've been reading C.S. Lewis again lately. His book The Abolition of Man sheds light on this cultural rift, a collision of worldviews. In That Hideous Strength, the third book in his sci-fi space trilogy, he uses fiction to illustrate how these ideas emerged and what the intentions are.
Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984 point to seeming different dystopian scenes, yet they all have a common denominator, which I hope to elaborate upon in a future post.
* * * *
Paine's essay then outlines events that had occurred up in the vicinity of Hackensack and the Colonialists escape from the Brits there, which sets up this section a little further:
Does this sound like today? The next sentence amplifies that with the reminder that "All nations and ages have been subject to them."
Next, he points out that panics have value and can be useful. Why?
Their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered.
* * * *
So it is that we are in a time of crisis, times that try men's souls. There are forces at war which have lain dormant and below the surface. What is emerging has been coalescing for a long time. The American Revolution did not "just happen." It had been evolving for quite some time.
I've been reading C.S. Lewis again lately. His book The Abolition of Man sheds light on this cultural rift, a collision of worldviews. In That Hideous Strength, the third book in his sci-fi space trilogy, he uses fiction to illustrate how these ideas emerged and what the intentions are.
Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984 point to seeming different dystopian scenes, yet they all have a common denominator, which I hope to elaborate upon in a future post.
* * * *
Paine's essay then outlines events that had occurred up in the vicinity of Hackensack and the Colonialists escape from the Brits there, which sets up this section a little further:
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other.
How relevant are these notions to our situation today? I believe parallels can be drawn. This is why so many voices are being raised. Something big appears to be at stake.
There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both.
* * * *
This document, one of a series, was written December 23, 1776, approximately six months after the Declaration of Independence.
Full essay:
https://www.ushistory.org/Paine/crisis/c-01.htm
There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both.
* * * *
This document, one of a series, was written December 23, 1776, approximately six months after the Declaration of Independence.
Full essay:
https://www.ushistory.org/Paine/crisis/c-01.htm
Demonstrations in Toledo.
ReplyDeleteNo mention of them from "journalists" in the media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfLjzYgfIVk&fbclid=IwAR2T5lFk_juzK9hyIHQgvjYLiDhvoVLcjG8JfKnLH4p3lqLHx-Hi6z-c5uM
I like the film clip at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteThis is a protest in Columbus, the capitol of Ohio. It brought back memories of a protest demonstration that I participated in there when I was in college at O.U.
As for the mainstream media, we'll see where the MSM does something with it. Local television covered it last night evidently
https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/protesters-back-at-ohio-statehouse-during-coronavirus-news-conference/
That brought back another protest I was at in the early 1980s in St Paul. There had been an ecumenical event held across the street from an abortion clinic with national speakers. It was a half day event with Jewish and Christian leaders and every denomination, and over 5000 people in attendance.
The next day it was never mentioned in the St Paul or Minneapolis newspapers at all. Zilch. Not a word. BUT on the front page of the paper there was a story about 8 protesters in Boston who broke into a company's R&D facility and poured blood onto the tip of a nuclear warhead. (It was not an "active" warhead, but this company made some components related to that.)
It was quite something that the one event could be treated as if it didn't exist.
We shall see what unfolds here... Thank you for triggering memories.